Homeless and addicted to drugs, it’s unclear why 41-year-old Shane Bennett took the bus from Rutland to the UBC Okanagan campus last February, but the trip ultimately landed him in a Kelowna courtroom.

On Sept. 17, the court heard that someone at Kelowna transit called UBCO security staff to tell them there was a “person of interest” who’d just gotten off at the university transit loop.

“And at the same time, the security officer received another call from someone who reported that there was a male in the bus loop who was on drugs and yelling and muttering something about dying,” Crown Prosecutor Miho Ogi-Harris said.

Security staff set about finding Bennett, who they tracked down in the library.

They politely asked him to leave the campus because he wasn’t a student.

He said he had a membership and was allowed to be there, but he failed to produce ID.

The Crown said the two security guards attempted to “direct” him out of the library, but Bennett got agitated and hostile.

“He eventually lunged towards the officers and yelled at them,” Ogi-Harris said.

He was asked to leave again, but lunged towards a female officer and spat at her from about five feet away. The spit landed on her boots and pants.

Bennett yelled some more before heading back to the bus loop and catching a bus back to Rutland.

A few days later, an officer who was “familiar with him” arrested him, and he was charged with assault.

Judge Dennis Ferbey said spitting on someone was a particularly “repugnant” kind of assault.

“It’s a degrading, dehumanizing act against a person whose job it is to provide for the safety and security of the students, staff, and faculty at UBCO,” the judge said. “It always carries with it the prospect of the transfer of communicable diseases and for that reason, assaults of this nature are treated seriously by the court.”

The court heard that the 41-year-old had a criminal record dating back to when he was a youth, but in the last 10 years his record was mainly for driving while prohibited, which he had done jail time for. Last year he spent a month in jail for escaping lawful custody or being unlawfully at large, but no details were heard in court about what he’d done.

Defence lawyer Melissa Lowe said Bennett was homeless and struggling with underlying addictions at the time.

“He was under the influence and just in a bad place,” the lawyer said.

Lowe said he connected with Narcotics Anonymous while in custody and found it very helpful. A community transition team would have some oversight of him once he was released from custody.

While the court painted the picture of an angry man, high on drugs and extremely agitated, Bennett presented as quite the opposite.

Addressing the judge from custody, he apologized.

“I’m sorry for my actions,” Bennett said. “I look forward to changing my outlook on the future with positive insight and a positive future.”

Judge Ferbey accepted a joint submission from lawyers for 60 days in jail. With time already spent in custody, Bennett was released that day.

The entire court proceeding took less than 15 minutes.